Our mission

Are you that special person who - weary from trudging the endless superhighways - just longs to camp next to a glorious oasis of the mind? Do you desire to explore new frontiers, splash in shared ideas, fill your belly with the refreshing fruits of inspiration, and bask in the gentle rays of fond reflection?

Well, you can fuck right off. This, my friends, is not that place. This place is... The ShadowLands.

Friday, August 29, 2008

One of Australia's cultural luminaries turns 49 on August 30. Mark "Jacko" Jackson is a former Aussie Rules player who went on to become one of our most revered popular singers, later going to the heights of saying "Oi!" in Energizer battery commercials screened in the US. He later made the mistake of stepping into the boxing ring with rugby league player, Mal Meninga.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

To balloon drop or not? That is the question currently hanging over the Kenyan Democratic Convention, where jubilant crowds have been celebrating the nomination of Barack Obama. His success is being celebrated with a special fervour by his closest relatives.

The ShadowLands hasn't heard much lately from our environment correspondent and leading celebrity, Cate Blanchett, but this is about to be rectified. Take it away Cate.

It is a great honour, once again in my capacity as leading celebrity, Cate Blanchett to tell you how to think. Some of you may recall my last column at the ShadowLands, where I gave you some practical tips about how to behave on World Biodiversity Day.

Well, since that great day, I have been keeping a close eye on the environment by reading a lot of newspapers - and guess what - things are very, very bad. As we all know, warming will kill us all. But the environment is a place full of surprises, so the question is, how will it kill us?

All of the evidence seems to be that as our knowledge expands, if anything, nature is becoming more diverse, not less. New weird animals are being found all over the place. A new dolphin species here. A worm snake there.

Now we hear that gorillas are forming in large groups in Africa. Now rubber suits of Big Foots are showing up as some kind of diversionary tactic.

What I'm saying here folks is that mother Gaia is being warmed. Mother Gaia is not happy. In fact, mother Gaia is getting very, very pissed off about the warmness, and soon she shall have her revenge. We are about to be attacked and eaten by weird animals. See if I am wrong. Thank you.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Denver Schmenver. What about the Obama Convention currently going on in Kenya? Crowds of relatives and friends of Barack are swelling with anticipation. Will the balloon drop happen? Will there be at least three colours in each meal?

REUTERS: Australian Olympic captain James Tonkin has told cheering crowds in Sydney this morning that the millions of dollars in public money spent training Australian journalists would be better spent in elite sports programs.

"As demonstrated by the likes of Adele Horin, Australian media training is clearly not very good," Tonkin told the crowd. "Whereas we came 6th in international competition, if they were pitched into international competition, Australia's journalists would be lucky to make the final in the 'accurate reporting of tides' event.

"Clearly, instead of wasting millions on politically biased journalism courses, we would be better off taking a leaf from the UAE and buying some long distance runners from east Africa."

However, with this ringing our ears, there is some very exciting news. Mr Burns is about to release an unflinching documentary about Senator Ted Kennedy, that will no doubt get to the bottom of what really happened at Chappaquiddick.

UPDATE: Got 8 minutes you don't need back? Here 'tis. "The sea for me has always been a metaphor for life..." You mean, sometimes you can drown and sometimes you swim. Mmmh an ominous start. Hang on - it's not a documentary, it's a hagiography. There's your answer then. Could it be that George W Bush has censored it?

The Democratic Convention is commencing in Colorado, meaning that there is only a short time left for homeless people to get their free hair-cuts.

Any homeless people reading the ShadowLands are encouraged to hurry on down and get your free 'do. Once you are all spruced up, don't forget to check out some of the great attractions at the homeless home show.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The bass player of Kiss, Gene Simmons is way more interesting than most rock stars. Born Chaim Witz in Israel on 25 August 1949, he claims never to have smoked, been drunk, or high in his life.

Simmons was a supporter of the war in Iraq and was quoted as saying, "I'm ashamed to be surrounded by people calling themselves liberal who are, in my opinion, spitting on the graves of brave American soldiers who gave their life to fight a war that wasn't theirs...in a country they've never been to...simply to liberate the people therein".

By way of explanation he said: "I will forever be grateful to America for going into World War II , when it had nothing to gain, in a country that was far away...and rescued my Mother from the Nazi German concentration camps. She is alive and I am alive because of America. And, if you have a problem with America, you have a problem with me." More on Simmons' support for Canadian soldiers here.

This game has the word Olympics in it, so I thought I would link to it before the window closed. Pretty lame, I know. Requires just two clicks of the left mouse - one to point your trajectory and the second to set your power level.

Which event requires 120 tons of lights and speakers, and a re-inforced roof to hold them up, specially made suites, 160 miles of copper cable, 3000 data lines, the reliability of coal fired power plus extra transformers to handle the massive power draw?

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross was the psychiatrist who is famous for identifying the five stages of death and dying - denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Sadly, before she died, Kübler Ross got into some weird stuff that has tarnished her reputation.

Nevertheless, it is alleged that she died on August 24, 2004 - though somehow I doubt it. And if she did - why her of all people, dammit? Why poor sweet Elisabeth? Perhaps if they let her live a little longer, someone less worthy could die first? But then - why bother and what's the point. I guess it was always going to happen anyway. It'll be okay - it happens to everyone eventually. Let it be.

"Canadians have a higher life expectancy than Australians." Probably not true.

"Of 34 countries surveyed in 2004 by the International Social Survey Program, we ranked third - behind Venezuela and New Zealand - for our sense of pride in sporting achievements. In the US, democratic credentials, political influence, military power and scientific achievements were more important sources of pride than sport."

Hang on Adele - just a minute ago you were criticising Americans for their obesity problems...

Here is the study, with the relevant table on page 13. Horin fails to mention that in terms of world rankings, Australians are equally proud of scientific achievements, and more proud of our democracy. I guess it just doesn't fit with the story.

Friday, August 22, 2008

If this report about the success of Nigerian email scams is anything to go by, there is no pending shortage of gullible people in Australia.

Perhaps even more alarming though is to learn (from the link) that "Professor Olu Agbi said there were almost 140 million people in Nigeria and fewer than 0.1 per cent were involved." By my calculations, that means up to 140,000 Nigerians are having difficulties with transferring their millions overseas - surely this makes it a significant industry in this poverty stricken nation.

By the way, if you are unfamiliar with the entertainment to be had in baiting the scammers, I recommend this site - it's a hoot.

On August 23, 1305, William Wallace was stripped naked and dragged through London at the heels of a horse to Smithfield. He was strangled by hanging but released while still alive, emasculated, eviscerated, and his bowels burnt before him, beheaded then cut into four parts. His preserved head was placed on a pike atop London Bridge. It was later joined by the heads of his brothers, John, and Simon Fraser. His limbs were displayed, separately, in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Berwick upon Tweed, Stirling and Aberdeen.

These injuries were so severe, he is thought to have died from his wounds.

Wallace quotes: "Every man dies. Not every man really lives."

"I'm William Wallace, and the rest of you will be spared. Go back to England and tell them... Scotland is free!"

Nigel Jamieson's play Gallipoli finishes up this weekend. Despite running at Sydney's highest profile theatre company, it has lasted less than one month, much like his previous play about David Hicks. Never mind, there's a good living to be made from awards.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

A number of media organisations appear to be recycling an older story about the Chinese having a few paperwork issues at the gymnastics, which is nice - but probably reflects more on the fact they didn't give it the prominence it deserved in the first place.

August 22 1770 will be remembered as the day that Lieutenant James Cook stood on the newly named Possession Island and claimed the entire eastern Australian coastline as British territory.

All students of Australian history will know that Cook used the racist legal principle of terra nullius - a Latin expression meaning land belonging to no-one - as the basis to make this audacious claim.

Unfortunately, historian Michael Connor has discovered that this is bunk. The legal profession, including perpetual sad guy and Mabo Judge, Sir William Deane were misled into believing terra nullius was "the basis of all land law in this country.”

As Connor revealed, in fact virtually nobody would have heard of the term before the swinging 1970s. Read what Cook actually wrote in his journal on that fateful day, here.

Cook quote: "Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again."

Australian middle distance runner Craig Mottram has missed out on the final of his 5000 metre event. Okay - it's the kind of thing that can happen. But most distressingly he refuses to come up with an excuse:

"I couldn't go anymore. I don't know why I just wasn't good enough...I got no excuses. I backed myself to make it in the top four and it bit me on the arse - that's sport."

But surely Craig - the heat, the pollution, an American judge, intense media scrutiny, drug cheats, an American conspiracy, an achilles strain, a mystery chest infection, AMERICA...For God's sake, somebody step in and get this guy some media training!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

After cruising to victory in the 100 metres final and 200 metres semi-final in Beijing, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt was quoted as saying he just wanted to show the world how hard he is working. Ironically, this is perhaps the one thing at Beijing that he has not yet achieved. Bolt is 22 years of age on 21 August.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The ShadowLands' correspondent on capitalism and freedom, John Butler from the John Butler Trio continues his popular, though controversial, series on capitalism and freedom.

I have had some great feedback from readers about this series on capitalism and freedom - and some have picked up on a very strong hint of Milton Friedman in some of my views - and lets face it, many of the actual sentences. Well sure, I'm not embarrassed to say I am a fan of Friedman - and here's an example of why:

August 20 1991 will be remembered as the day when Estonians achieved independence from the Soviet Union. Soon after independence, Estonian Prime Minister, Mart Laar inherited leadership of a country with 1,000 percent inflation, 30 percent unemployment, and disastrously inefficient government-owned businesses. Laar's government removed price controls, cut regulations and welfare programs, sold state-owned businesses, introduced a new currency, and instituted a flat-rate income tax.

Inflation in Estonia has fallen below 3 percent, unemployment has plunged below 6 percent. Estonia has enjoyed the greatest growth in real per-capita income of any of the former Soviet states. Today the country is a member of NATO, the European Union, and the World Trade Organisation and rated 12th in the world for economic freedom.

On taking the Prime Ministership, the first book that Laar read was Milton Friedman's Free to Choose. Says Laar: "The first time I heard the name Milton Friedman, it was in propaganda newsletters that said there is one very bad and very dangerous economist, and his name is Milton Friedman. I was quite sure, when he is so dangerous for the Communists to be telling me this, he must be a good man."

A North Korean double medallist in shooting, 31-year-old Kim Jong Su has been disqualified for alleged doping irregularities. However, as noted by the Korean Friendship Association, this is most likely a trumped up charge, or something relating to blood pressure medication.

Although technically these games are known as the Beijing Olympics, a Canadian KFA contributor nails it when she says:

"Seems to me like the USA is working harder then ever to strip medals from Socialist Nations just to put themselves into the lead. It sure as heck is not because their athletes are worth the dirt on my shoe."

Kim Jong's medal winning exploits have been reported in North Korea, but not his disqualification - which must lead to some tricky questions about how he will be treated when he returns to the glorious DPRK.

Helium was first discovered - though not quite identified yet - on August 18, 1868 by French astronomer, Pierre Janssen looking at the sun during an eclipse. This was the first element identified in space before it was identified on Earth.

As many people know, helium is a hoot because it can make your voice go funny, but it is not a good idea to inhale it at the expense of oxygen. It is less well known that you can lower your voice by inhaling a dense gas such as sulfur hexafluoride. Sulfur hexafluoride is extra cool, because it is considered the world's most potent greenhouse gas.

Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd repeated his claim that Australia is the hottest and driest continent on the planet on a surprisingly balanced report aired on Sixty Minutes tonight. All of which reminds me -it is five weeks today since I first wrote to him seeking evidence to back up this claim. Looks like being another long week by the letterbox.

You can still vote in a poll asking whether the Australian men's medley swimming relay can stop Michael Phelps claiming his eighth gold medal, despite the fact he has already won it. With all things taken into consideration, my vote is for no.

I guess it will come as no surprise to Hillary Clinton to learn that the world has embraced her husband.

According to this report in leading newspaper, the Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Clinton has used his rotor blades to drive a gritty storm of dust into the faces of Ethiopian villagers. Can a Nobel Prize be far away?

The real life Davy Crockett's birthday was the day after Fess Parker's, though Crockett was born in 1786. Crockett represented Tennessee in the US House of Representatives, took part in the Texas revolution and died at the Alamo.

The last entry in Crockett's diary: "Pop, pop, pop! Bom, bom, bom! throughout the day. No time for memorandums now. Go ahead! Liberty and Independence forever. "

REUTERS: The Canadian Olympic Committee, has called on Canada to change its name as part of a plan to improve its standing on medal tallies. President of the Committee, Michael Chambers says that having the name "Canada" means that other nations who don't win medals appear before it on charts tallying up the winners.

"It's unfair that nations such as Albania and Azerbaijhan can win no medals and appear above us on the medal chart. That is why we are proposing that Canada change it's name to 'Aaaaaaa'.

"It may take a bit of getting used to, but instead of appearing to come 83rd, we can instantly climb to the top of the leader board of nations with no medals - a difference of 30 placings or so. I will be meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss the new proposal as a matter of urgency."

Mr Chambers explains the name 'Aaaaaah' was also considered.

"The committee decided it was not worth the risk of using a letter from lower in the alphabet and being gazumped by some try-hard like New Zealand," he concluded.

Friday, August 15, 2008

hag Madonna is 50 on August 16. She is admired internationally for dressing differently in various videos whilst writhing on the floor. She was once a back-up dancer for the great philosopher Patrick Hernandez.

REUTERS: Today Canada experienced its best chance to get a medal at the Beijing Olympics so far when a Swedish wrestler threw his away. Unfortunately, the Canadian wrestling team was brushed aside by a spectator from Kyrgyzstan.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

In his twenties he tried to create diamonds by heating graphite and shorted out Glasgow's electricity supply. Later, he created the first television set using a hatbox, a pair of scissors, some darning needles, a few bicycle light lenses, a used tea chest, and sealing wax and glue.

Sadly, in Australia today, many associate him with the television awards known as the Logies, and the self-obsessed retards who win them.

A storm of media bumpf has erupted over the decision to prevent some snaggle-toothed chick from miming her own voice at the Beijing Olympics. The ShadowLands says: get over it people.

If we wanted to see people with bad teeth on the tele during the Olympics, we would hold the event in England - and nobody wants to see that. What's more, when the great Milli Vanilli finally makes a comeback, you can be sure that the ShadowLands will be there in the front row.

(Pictured above from left to right: the ugly one nobody likes, and the pretty, popular one.)

Like many a feminist before her, Naomi Wolf is finding she needs to get more shrill to try and maintain interest and book sales - which explains why she started with The Beauty Myth and has wound up with The End of America.

She has also discovered that the shriller she gets, the less interested are her compatriots - but she can still make a living by dumping on her homeland in journals like the China Daily.

In this article she seems to be oblivious to the fact that 16 people have been convicted or disciplined over AbuGhraib, and ignorant or not interested in some of the issues that should concern her in the country of publication.

The ShadowLands' great friend, 1.618 has sent us an exclusive photograph from her Olympic series. Unfortunately, our crack IT department may take a little while to figure out how to turn the image the right way up, but in the meantime, be sure to check out 1.6's always surprising photo blog. Thanks 1.6.

Regular readers of the ShadowLands would be aware of an incident at a North Korean tourist resort last month where a female South Korean was shot dead while going for a morning stroll on the beach.

ShadowLands readers are therefore better briefed than Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd (about two thirds of the way down here):

If you look for example at this terrible tragedy which occurred only a few weeks ago at a beach resort in North Korea involving a South Korean tourist. He was shot dead while walking along the beach by a North Korean security personnel...

Interviewer: Isn't it ironic that political bands can cause real damage, yet you're the ones that parents and teachers are objecting to?

AY: It's easier to take a swing at someone that's singing about sex and rock 'n' roll, but that's all part of life, and it's all in fun. We're not the ones telling people what to do. I don't like it when people tell me what to do--even teachers. When I was a kid in school, as soon as a teacher starting spouting at me, I'd go off to the toilet to have a smoke. I didn't want to be sitting here having to listen to this guy telling me stuff that was no use to me.

The Communist Party of Australia experienced some popularity with Australian artistic and media types during the 1950s, with members including Phillip Adams, that painful ABC gardening presenter who retired recently, and artists, novelists, painters and poets including Katherine Susannah Prichard, Judah Waten, Frank Hardy, Eric Lambert, Allan Marshall, Noel Counihan and poet David Martin.

"They were sitting a couple of seats in front of me and as I said quite clearly yesterday, I didn’t hear what they were saying. It was just an animated conversation which I observed to be quite friendly, ass was occurring between President Bush and a number of other world leaders."

Sunday, August 10, 2008

The ShadowLands' lucky US readers will be waking up to National S'more Day, August 10. Popular in North America, a s'more (short for some more) is a traditional campfire treat consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a slab of chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers.

The closest Australian equivalent might be a twisty, which consists of mixture of damper (unleavened bread), wrapped around a green stick and cooked on hot coals. A delight served with butter and golden syrup (placed in the hole where the stick was), and a few crunchy bits of bark, ash and insects to taste.

Friday, August 8, 2008

The Olympics has gotten Margo's Maid all reminiscent-like and wishing to share with you this true story about the first time she was exposed to the Olympic spirit. Take it away, MM:

While it might not be entirely lady-like to reveal my age to readers, I can divulge that in the year 1976, MM was but an 8-year-old child attending primary school in a small Australian country town.

Our teacher decided that we would learn about the Olympics commencing in Montreal. To complete this task, a large piece of cardboard was assembled, with a range of nations listed down one side. Each child would be able to nominate a nation that they would follow, and be able to place a gold, silver, or bronze star next to the name of the country every time they won the corresponding medal.

When the teacher asked, who would like to follow Australia? - every hand in the class shot up to the sky including mine. Much to my chagrine, the teacher chose three or four of her favoured students to share this task, as it would no doubt require some serious attention.

Those who missed out on Australia, begged the teacher to be given the United States, as even we 8-year-olds recognised the potential for some serious sticker action. Once again, I missed out - dammit, and the task was given to a group of favoured kids to share. Next came Russia, and I missed out again.

With these choices gone, I was not sure what nation to choose, and as the bell sounded, it was a weighing heavily on my mind. That night, I asked my father what nation would be a good choice. It turns out, he had been reading the sports pages of the newspaper, and suggested I choose East Germany. The next day, when I made this choice, my teacher and fellow students were surprised to learn there was such a thing as a German Democratic Republic, and were happy to leave me on my own with my eccentric choice.

Boy on a Bike details his attempt to attend an open forum with Australia's Minister for Climate Change, Penny Wong over here only to be stymied by poor planning by Australia's Minister for Infrastructure.

Maybe our infrastructure Minister should start by organising piss-ups in breweries and work his way up to some of these more difficult events.

By the by, shouldn't Penny be against climate change rather than for it?

Thursday, August 7, 2008

The blogosphere is alive with talk about Al Gore's new 100 foot house boat the BS1. The environmental credentials of the craft include the fact that it runs on bio-fuels.

This is bad news for our friends in developing countries who would prefer that the plants used in the production of fuel were used to produce food. So by using bio-fuel, Al is helping to increase poverty in places like India. Frankly, the poorest people in the world would be better off if he let off some steam in a fuel injected Hummer all weekend. This is not to mention the range of other operational problems that bio-diesel brings to the party.

But for those of you who care about people, there's good news. The fuel in bio-fuel doesn't actually contain much bio-fuel - in fact, as little as 10 per cent - meaning that even when his boat is supposedly running on eco-friendly Indian-starving bio-fuel, as much as 90 per cent will be regular Gaia-raping diesel.

Leading thinker, Bob Ellis (pictured left) is urging all safety conscious air travellers to fly government owned airlines like Garuda, following an incident where Qantas passengers came close to being injured. Although no-one has ever died as a result of an accident involving Qantas since, or before, it was privatised in 1993, Mr Ellis points out that it might well happen - proving once and for all that capitalism is a failure.

Mr Ellis also rightly points out that an Australian miner died in an accident two and a half years ago at a privately run mine in Tasmania - and this kind of thing would not happen at a government run mine because governments take mine safety seriously. More on what Bob Ellis thinks as it comes to hand.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Not to be confused with some modern day actress chick, Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway died on August 6, 1623.

As outlined in an excellent book by Bill Bryson, there is a tiny amount of evidence available about the life of William Shakespeare and a mountain of conjecture. One of the few things that is known, is that when he died, he bequeathed Anne his "second best bed".

Professional harpie, Germaine Greer has gone to great lengths to add to the mountain and suggest there is nothing to be inferred about their relationship in this. Riiiiight.

Behold, the wonder that is the tree stump of Prometheus, the oldest known tree on Earth, cut down by a graduate student and the US Forest Service in the name of science on August 6, 1964. Thanks to the research, they were able to confirm the Bristlecone Pine was around 5,000 years of age.

The current oldest living tree, Methusaleh, exists at a secret location nearby in eastern Nevada.

Of course, old trees tend not to do much anymore by way of collecting carbon, so no loss there.

August 5 is Independence Day for Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta, the land-locked west African nation.

Blaise Campaore has been President of BF since 1987. He owes much of his long and magnificent reign to the uninvestigated death of his predecessor Thomas Sankara and other potential revolutionary rivals.

A rough translation of "Burkina Faso" is "Men of integrity in the father's house".

Please take a moment to honour Independence Day of this nation by standing for the national anthem.

For some time the Australian Government has been running television advertisements pointing to their Department of Climate Change website and promising a place to "have your say". It has taken them a while to live up to the promise, but finally they actually have provided a mechanism for feedback.

We have until September 10 to make a submission to the Green Paper on carbon emissions. Rest assured, the ShadowLands is working on it.

When God told him that he had been chosen to be the patron saint of girls seeking husbands, Saint Sithney said he would rather take care of mad dogs. Saint Sithney received his requested patronage and, ever since, mad dogs have been given water from Saint Sithney’s well in Cornwall as a cure.

Water in Cornwall (and Devon), incidentally really does have a little something extra in it - and people in Cornwall live longer.

REUTERS: In what could be the first sign of a change in the balance of world power, an Australian submarine has sunk a US warship.

A spokesman for the Royal Australian Navy said that at this rate, the US will face a serious shortage of decommissioned warships.

"With the demonstrated superiority of our submarines over their decommissioned warships, and the possibility of forming an alliance with the New Zealand airforce, we cannot rule out some kind of invasion of the US in the near future," the spokesman said.

It is tradional in many nations for government ministers not to talk down the economies or other attributes of their nation.

Not so, Penny Wong, Australia's Minister for Climate Change and Water. On the television program, Q & A this week she said, (no link available): "Depending on which chart you read, Australia is either first or second with the United States for carbon emissions per capita."

Oh really. Which chart would that be then?

It turns out Ms Wong is not being entirely untruthful, just tricky.

Most charts of carbon emissions per capita look something like this or this with a number of nations ahead of Australia and the United States.

It turns out the chart she is referring to is most likely to be one of these kinds, that excludes developing nations, and assumes we can ignore Luxembourg.

That is, it would have been more accurate for Senator Wong to say that Australia and the United States have the highest carbon emissions per capita in the world apart from Luxembourg if you read a table where other nations that have higher emissions have been left out.

The myth that Australia and the United States have the highest per capita carbon emissions was very successfully propagated late last year in a media release by the Centre for Global Development. It turns out that the CGD is a "think tank that works to reduce global poverty and inequality by encouraging policy change in the U.S. and other rich countries" and that their study was only about power plants, and that anyone who can find comparative data on any table is doing much better than me.

It is now three weeks since I first wrote to Australian PM, Kevin Rudd seeking any facts to back up his claim that Australia is the hottest and driest continent. I guess he is just gathering his copious documentation on the subject, but it can't be long now before I get a reply.

REUTERS: One of Australia's top two government-funded broadcasters, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation has found a replacement for its South Asia correspondent Peter Lloyd, who is facing multiple drug charges in Singapore.

A spokesperson for the ABC said the replacement has considerable first hand experience of Asia. "We have every confidence that our new correspondent will attempt to deliver the goods," the spokesman concluded.

You know that a parody is very fine when it convinces some people it is not a parody. The magnificent songun blog has been inactive for a long time - no doubt its creator has been kidnapped by American imperialists - but still gathers admirers from the Korean Friendship Association.

Speaking of the KFA, discussion has begun about those nefarious starvation rumours being spread by the United Nations.